Overon America, a subsidiary of Overon, one of Spain’s biggest communication and broadcasting companies, is looking to make more of an impact in Latin America, particularly ahead of the major sporting events taking place in Brazil over the next three years. The company offers a variety of transmission solutions, satellite and fiber capacity, teleport services and Internet-based webcasting services. Overon America’s CEO Oscar Lopez talks about how the company is building its business in Latin America and where it goes next.

VIA SATELLITE: What are the major challenges for Overon over the next 12 months?
Lopez: In the Americas, the major challenge for the next 12 months is having market growth and touch base with the new potential clients. We are a company that is well-known in the region because we are in charge of the Spanish soccer league distribution. This is a very good entry into the market. We have a teleport and commercial office in Miami, where we are also developing the ad hoc market at the moment with a flyaway base there; but our idea is to have around 10 SNGs in the region. The main target is to establish stronger relationships with our customers.

VIA SATELLITE: What are your demands like for satellite capacity?
Lopez: In Latin America, there is a strong demand for satellite capacity. Fiber networks right now are not so advanced in terms of their development. Overall, there are a number of new channels coming into the market and, in addition, these big events will lead to increases in demand for satellite capacity. We work not only with Intelsat, but also with Hispasat, SES, and Satmex; so the four major players in the region.

VIA SATELLITE: Where does satellite fit into the whole broadcast ecosystem in Latin America?
Lopez: The major issue right now in the region is the network capability. There is a lack of fiber and satellite provides a solution in terms of content to the cable head-ends. This is a big market and Intelsat and SES are the leaders in this part of distribution to cable head-ends. In terms of DTH, each country has a hot position. In Brazil, Amazonas has the hottest position. In the next five years, OTT will be the future in Latin America, while in Europe and the United States it is the present. Everyone is talking about OTT, and these kinds of services; our opinions is that the solutions will be a mix between OTT and satellite.

VIA SATELLITE: Do you think OTT will have a strong impact in Latin America?
Lopez: It will have a strong position in Latin America. In Europe is a reality, where are a big percentage of the population is connected.
One of our services is taking content from other countries, for example, Brazil, and distribute it over Europe via satellite. When you distribute over satellite, first you are not controlling who is taking your signal; you don’t have feedback. Secondly, you are paying a big amount of money for the best positions in Europe, such as HotBird, for example. The customers are changing their minds and broadcasters are trying to go towards OTT – this will be the future in all the regions. Europe and the United States are already prepared and little by little the market is heading to OTT. People in their early 20s, they are used to seeing everything on the Internet, they don’t want to follow linear channels as much because they want to control the channel and watch TV everywhere. This is a very important change for us; we are trying to be prepared for this. We are running an OTT platform in Spain and we are doing from Spain part of the OTT platform for one of our clients in the United States. Overon is trying to adapt to the new business. In the beginning, we were a satellite service provider and now we are a content management company. Our customer tells us what they need, and Overon will put in place a solution with a mix of satellite, fiber, Internet, etc.

VIA SATELLITE: What is Overon working on in terms of delivery of content in Latin America?
Lopez: We have three projects with very important content in Latin America that we are doing over the next few months. We have been in the United States for only12 months, but the feeling is totally different to Europe. In Europe, we are facing a deep crisis; everyone is thinking about cutting costs, and how can we do things at a minimum costs. Broadcasters are even closing channels. As a natural expansion opportunity, Overon is working a lot in Latin America where all the countries have been growing over the last three years and is expected to continue for three more. So, the mindset is totally different: there are new services and applications. In Colombia, they are thinking about how they can bring the TV to one million households that never get TV signal. It is a totally different point of view.

VIA SATELLITE: What trends do you see in the broadcast market?
Lopez: We are offering the same services we offer in Europe: occasional and permanent services. In the occasional services market we are facing a deep segmentation. New products like Streambox solutions with mobile operators are coming to market. You also have FTTP services for the playout and everything. This part of the market is very segmented right now. We are trying to be a service provider and offer a complete service to the client, no matter what technology we are going to use. Whether 3G, 4G, satellite or fiber, we are going to take care of your live service. We are developing as fast as we can. The technologies are changing constantly.

On the distribution side, we have two platforms, one for the domestic market, and one for Pan-American distribution, which we will probably have in the next few months. We are not only thinking of satellite solutions. We have an OTT platform in Spain, which we are trying to replicate in the United States to develop these services. We hope to do this before the end of the year. VS